Saturday, May 4, 2013

I have said this one hundred times, but the slow cooker is my best friend during the school year. The hubs (he's the best, I know!) tosses in the ingredients in the morning, it cooks all day, and it is ready to eat when we come home. You just can't beat that.

This recipe is a little labor intensive for our work morning routine. However, this is a great one to keep on hand for a busy weekend day or even just a day you feel too lazy to really cook. As far as lasagna goes, my mom's is the best. I'm sure everyone says that, but I mean it! This one tasted almost as good as hers. The recipe I replicated is from The Girl Who Ate Everything.

You will need:

1 lb. ground beef

1 small sweet onion, diced

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 (24 oz.) jar of spaghetti sauce

1/2 C. water

1 (15 oz.) container of ricotta cheese

2 C. mozzarella cheese

1/4 C. grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg

2 tbsp. Italian seasonings

6 uncooked lasagna noodles

Directions:

Using a large skillet cook ground beef and onion. Add the garlic, cook for about a minuted, then drain. Return beef, onion, and garlic back to skillet and add the spaghetti sauce and water. Simmer together for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, egg, and seasonings.

In the slow cooker, put about 1 cup of the meat mixture on the bottom. Add 3 lasagna noodles. They will not fit exactly, I had to break them up to fit. Next add about half of the cheese mixture. Add almost all of the rest of the meat mixture, followed by the rest of the noodles. Top it off with the last of the meat mixture. Cook on low for about 4 hours or until the noodles are cooked. Top with some Parmesan cheese.